The Africa LEEPS Partnership
The Africa LEEPS Partnership at a glance; The East African Regional Evidence Support Initiative (EARESI)
Duration: 2023 – present
ABOUT LEEPS
The Africa Learning together to advance Evidence and Equity in Policymaking to achieve the SDGS (LEEPS) initiative aims to institutionalize the use of evidence-informed policymaking (EIP) through building capacities in West Africa and East Africa. LEEPS seeks to strengthen gender equity in the EIP processes.
The Center for Rapid Evidence Synthesis-led consortium within the East African regional hub aims to contribute to the LEEPS through three principal areas including; strengthening the capacity of EIDM within the region, training the next generation of leaders in EIDM and developing a focused and living, growing evidence base for the priority SDG questions.
The consortium includes the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) from Ethiopia, Malawi Liverpool Wellcome (MLW) from Malawi, and the Center for Reforms, Innovation, Health Policies, and Implementation Research (CeRiHi) from Tanzania.
Other hubs within the overall LEEPS program are;
- The West Africa Regional Hub is led by the African Centre for Equitable Development (ACED)
- The East African Regional hub is co-led by ACRES and the African Institute for Policy Development (AFIDEP)
IDENTIFIED GAPS
1. Poorly contextualised evidence for local needs
2. Poor EIDM institutional capacities
3. Lack of adequate individual EIDM capacities
4. Poorly sustained EIDM efforts
5. Slow/ untimely KT processes
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY
Strong Local and Contextualised Evidence Base
Creation of a digitised data base designed for evidence and policy practitioners.
Institutional Capacity enhancement
Drawing on both internal hub-teams strengths and external collaborations, we shall enhance the individual and institutional capacities within the hub for Evidence Informed Decision Making.
New Generation of Leaders
Training the next generation of leaders for EIDM to develop sustainable capacity within the region.
RESULT AREAS
- More accessible, stronger, relevant evidence for local decisions
- Stronger capacity (institutional and individual for timely responses to policy queries
- Strategic institutions for regional use of Evidence to inform policies and decisions
- Strategic engagement
- Strategic Next Generational Leadership for sustained efforts
EXPECTED IMPACT
- Sustained Capacity for EIDM in strategic and target countries/institutions
- Strong and Robust evidence generation and mobilization for Local Decisions in East Africa
- A pool of next generation leaders in EIDM
COLLABORATORS
Uganda: Centre for Rapid Evidence Synthesis (ACRES)
Malawi: Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme – Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme (mlw.mw)
Tanzania: CeRIHI | Center for Reforms,Innovation,Health policies and Implementation Research
FUNDERS